Weft less hair extension and method for making

ABSTRACT

A hair extension that has no weft for attachment to the hairs on a person&#39;s head. The extension however includes a group of hairs arranged to form a flat strip which has a top end, a bottom end, a width across the group of hairs and a length along the group of hairs. An adhesive is located across the top end of the group of hairs to bind the hairs together and double sided adhesive tapes are attached to the sides of the group of hairs and covers the adhesive at the top end of the group of hairs. A release tape is attached to each of the double sided adhesive tapes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a strip of hair which isplaced on a person's head and, more particularly, to a method ofpreparing a strip of hair that is adapted to be used as a hair extensionto add fullness and/or length to the hair on a person's head where thestrip of hair has no weft and, when located on a person's head, isseamless, virtually weightless, undetectable, and presents no bumps orlumps and can be easily attached in a variety of ways to the hair on thehead of a wearer.

2. Description of Related Art

Hair wefts are used to add fullness, body and/or length to a person'sexisting head of hair. Hair wefts usually consist of a row of hairs heldtogether at one end with a weft threaded width ways across the row ofhairs. The weft is located at one side of the row of hairs and isprovided to hold the row of hairs together and allow for easy handlingand utilization of the row of hairs in a variety of different ways. Theweft of hairs or a group of wefts of hairs can be attached directly to aperson's hair to provide fullness and/or extensions to the person'shair.

Each weft can include either natural human hair or some other syntheticor natural hair-like substance. When a hair weft is used as a hairextension, the weave of the weft is attached to a person's existing hairnear his/her scalp. The wefts then move away from the scalp as thenatural hair grows.

In most instances when hair wefts are used as hair extensions, tapes areused to attach the hair weft directly to a person's natural hair. Priorart hair wefts are significantly thicker than the individual hairsthemselves. This thickness of the weave prevents multiple wefts frombeing spaced closely together to provide an appearance of thick hair.

In U.S. Pat. No. 5,413,124 to Incando there is disclosed a hair weftwhich includes a weave which connects attached ends of individual hairsto the weave. The weave has a vinyl composition applied along itslength. Once multiple coats of the vinyl composition are applied to theweave and allowed to dry, clamps are used to press the vinyl compositionand weave. The resulting pressed weft bonds the hairs to the pressedweave and decreases a thickness of the pressed weave. However, the weaveis still attached to the hair weft.

Accordingly, a need exists for a new strip of hair that has no weft,that has reduced thickness, that sticks readily to the hair attachingtape, can be easily attached to a person's hair and can be removed fromthat persons hair without causing damage to the existing hair.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In an embodiment there is disclosed a hair extension for attachment tothe hair on a person's head comprising:

a group of hairs arranged to form a flat strip having a top end, abottom end, a width across said group of hairs and a length along saidgroup of hairs;

an adhesive located across the top end of the group of hairs to bind thehairs together;

a first double sided adhesive tape attached to one side of the group ofhairs at the top end of the group of hairs;

a second double sided adhesive tape attached to another side of thegroup of hairs at the top end of the group of hairs;

a first release tape attached to the first double sided adhesive tape;and

a second releases tape attached to the second double sided adhesivetape;

wherein the hair extension has no weft.

In another embodiment there is disclosed a method of making a hairextension for attachment to the hair on a person's head comprising thesteps of:

arranging a group of hairs as a flat strip having a top end, a bottomend, a width across the group of hairs and a length along the group ofhairs;

applying an adhesive across the top end of the group of hairs to bindthe hairs together;

attaching a first double sided adhesive tape to one side of the group ofhairs at the top end of the group of hairs;

attaching a second double sided adhesive tape to another side of thegroup of hairs at the top end of the group of hairs;

attaching a first release tape to the first double sided adhesive tape;and

attaching a second releases tape to the second double sided adhesivetape;

wherein the hair extension has no weft.

The foregoing has outlined, rather broadly, the preferred feature of thepresent invention so that those skilled in the art may better understandthe detailed description of the invention that follows. Additionalfeatures of the invention will be described hereinafter that form thesubject of the claims of the invention. Those skilled in the art shouldappreciate that they can readily use the disclosed conception andspecific embodiment as a basis for designing or modifying otherstructures for carrying out the same purposes of the present inventionand that such other structures do not depart from the spirit and scopeof the invention in its broadest form.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other aspects, features, and advantages of the present invention willbecome more fully apparent from the following detailed description, theappended claim, and the accompanying drawings in which similar elementsare given similar reference numerals.

FIG. 1 is a view of a strip of hair weft before removal of the weft inaccordance with the principles of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view of the strip of hair of FIG. 1 being prepared forremoval of the weft in accordance with the principles of the invention;and

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of the steps in preparing a strip of hair thathas no weft in accordance with the principles of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a view of a strip of hair 10 beforeremoval of the weft. The strip of hair is received from a supplier as along weft which is approximately 72 inches in width and includes a groupof hairs 12 arranged in a row and held together at one end 14 by crossthreads that are either sewn or woven to the ends or the hairs 16. Thissewn or woven end 14 is referred to as the weft and has more bulk andmass than the strands of hair to which it is attached.

Initially the weft is cut to one of more desired widths. In theembodiment here disclosed, the 72 inch wide strip of hair is cut into 24strips where each strip has a width of 3 inches.

Referring to FIG. 2, a 3 inch strip of hair 18 is placed on a non-sticksurface 20 such as a Teflon board and a polymer adhesive 22 is appliedto the hairs along a line 24 which is located immediately below the weftand extends along the full width of the strip. The adhesive contains novinyl or latex. If desired, the strip can be turned over and the polymeradhesive is then applied to the reverse side of the strip of hair,immediately below the weft and along the full width of the strip. Thepolymer adhesive functions as a bonding member to lock the various hairsof the strip together.

After the polymer adhesive has completely dried, a double sided adhesivetape 26 is applied to each side of the strip of hair, immediately belowthe weft and on top of the dried polymer adhesive, and is pressed firmlyin place. The double sided adhesive tape can be a product from WalkerTape Co., Inc. located in West Jordan, Utah. This double sided adhesivetape does not contain any hazardous substance under OSHA's hazardcommunication standard #29 CFR 1910.1200 as amended in the 8-24-87federal register. To protect the adhesive tape until it is to be used, arelease strip is located on top of the adhesive tape on each side of thestrip of hair. The release tape can be made of plastic or paper andcompletely covers each of the exposed sides of the double sided adhesivetapes. The release tape is removed from the double sided adhesive tapewhen the strip of hair is being attached to a section of hair on aperson's head.

After the release tape has been applied to the double sided adhesivetape on each side of the strip of hair, the weft that was originallyprovided with the strip of hair is cut away from the strip of hair justabove the double sided adhesive tape with either a pair of scissors or aknife and can be discarded.

At this time the strip of hair has no weft and there in now provided ahair strip that has all of the advantages of the prior art hair weftswithout any of the disadvantages.

Referring to FIG. 3, there is shown a flow diagram 30 of the steps inpreparing a strip of hair that has no weft in accordance with theprinciples of the invention. Initially a weft of hair received from asupplier is cut to form strips of a desired width, block 32. A cut stripof hair is placed onto a no stick board, block 34. While the strip ofhair is on the no stick board, an adhesive is applied to one side of thestrip of hair below the weft and along the full width of the strip ofhair, block 36. The strip of hair is then turned over and the adhesiveis applied to the other side of the strip of hair below the weft andalong the full width of the strip of hair, block 38. The adhesive isallowed to completely dry, block 40.

After the adhesive has dried, double sided stick tape is applied to eachside of the strip of hair below the weft and covering the driedadhesive, block 42. The adhesive is now pressed firmly in place, block44, and release tape in now placed on top of each double sided sticktape, block 46. The weft at the top of the strip of hair is now removedand discarded, block 48. At this time the strip of hair has no weft isready for use.

To attach the strip of hair to, for example, the back of a person'shead, the hair is parted horizontally to form a lower group of hairs andan upper group of hairs, and the upper group of hair are temporarilyattached to the hairs at the top of the person's head with a springclip. The release tape is removed from one side of the hair strip, isplaced about one quarter of an inch down from the part and is pressedagainst the lower group of hairs hair. Now the release tape on the otherside of the hair strip is removed, the upper group of hairs are releasedfrom the top of the person's head and placed on the exposed adhesive onthe hair strip. Pressure is now applied to the hair on each side of thehair piece to lock it in position.

While there have been shown and described and pointed out thefundamental novel features of the invention as applied to the preferredembodiments, it will be understood that the foregoing is considered asillustrative only of the principles of the invention and not intended tobe exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed.Obvious modifications or variations are possible in light of the aboveteachings. The embodiments discussed were chosen and described toprovide the best illustration of the principles of the invention and itspractical application to enable one of ordinary skill in the art toutilize the invention in various embodiments and with variousmodifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated All suchmodifications and variations are within the scope of the invention asdetermined by the appended claims when interpreted in accordance withthe breadth to which they are entitled.

1. A hair extension for attachment to the hair on a person's headcomprising: a group of hairs arranged to form a flat strip having a topend, a bottom end, a width across said group of hairs and a length alongsaid group of hairs; an adhesive located across said top end of saidgroup of hairs to bind said hairs together; a first double sidedadhesive tape attached to one side of said group of hairs at the top endof the group of hairs; a second double sided adhesive tape attached toanother side of said group of hairs at the top end of the group ofhairs; a first release tape attached to the first double sided adhesivetape; and a second releases tape attached to the second double sidedadhesive tape; wherein said hair extension has no weft.
 2. The hairextension of claim 1 wherein said first double sided adhesive tapecovers said adhesive.
 3. The hair extension of claim 2 wherein saidsecond double sided adhesive tape covers said adhesive.
 4. The hairextension of claim 1 wherein said adhesive is applied to a group ofhairs having a weft which is removed from said group of hairs after saidadhesive is applied.
 5. The hair extension of claim 1 wherein saidadhesive is applied to a group of hairs having a weft which is removedfrom said group of hairs after the release tape has been applied to eachdouble sided adhesive tape.
 6. The hair extension of claim 1 whereinsaid top end of said group of hairs are arranged to form a substantiallystraight line.
 7. The hair extension of claim 6 wherein said hairs ofsaid group of hairs are of substantially equal lengths.
 8. The hairextension of claim 6 wherein said hairs of said group of hairs are ofthe same length.
 9. The hair extension of claim 1 wherein said adhesivecontains no vinyl.
 10. The hair extension of claim 1 wherein saidadhesive contains no latex.
 11. The hair extension of claim 1 whereinsaid adhesive is a polymer.
 12. The hair extension of claim 1 whereinsaid double sided adhesive contains no hazardous substance.
 13. A methodof making a hair extension for attachment to the hair on a person's headcomprising the steps of: arranging a group of hairs as a flat striphaving a top end, a bottom end, a width across said group of hairs and alength along said group of hairs; applying an adhesive across said topend of said group of hairs to bind said hairs together; attaching afirst double sided adhesive tape to one side of said group of hairs atthe top end of the group of hairs; attaching a second double sidedadhesive tape to another side of said group of hairs at the top end ofthe group of hairs; attaching a first release tape to the first doublesided adhesive tape; and attaching a second releases tape to the seconddouble sided adhesive tape; wherein said hair extension has no weft. 14.The method of claim 13 wherein said first double sided adhesive tapecovers said adhesive.
 15. The method of claim 14 wherein said seconddouble sided adhesive tape covers said adhesive.
 16. The method of claim13 wherein said adhesive is applied to a group of hairs having a weftwhich is removed from said group of hairs after said adhesive isapplied.
 17. The method of claim 13 wherein said adhesive is applied toa group of hairs having a weft which is removed from said group of hairsafter the release tape has been applied to each double sided adhesivetape.
 18. The method of claim 13 wherein said adhesive is a polymer. 19.The method of claim 13 wherein said double sided adhesive contains nohazardous substance.